The Artaxiads (Georgian: არტაშესიანი, romanized: art'ashesiani), a branch of the eponymous dynasty of Armenia, ruled Iberia (ancient Georgia) from c. 90 BC to 30 AD.
According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, they acquired the crown of Iberia after the Iberian nobles revolted against their king P’arnajom, of the Pharnabazid dynasty, and petitioned the king of Armenia to send his son, who was married to a Pharnabazid princess, as their new monarch.
Even after the surrender of Tigranes to the mercy of Pompey, the Artaxiad king of Iberia Artoces (r. 78–63 BC) continued to offer a stubborn resistance to the invading Romans, but was eventually defeated and forced to plead for peace.
This Artoces well known to the Classical sources is apparently the Artag (Artog), son of Arshak/Artaxias, of the Georgian annals which surprisingly omit any mention of the Roman invasion, but instead report the king’s fighting with the “Persians”.
Neither Pharnabazus nor his relations with Rome are recorded in the Georgian chronicles whose narrative focuses on King Bartom, son of Artag, and his demise in the struggle with the once-exiled prince Mirian who eventually restored the Pharnabazid dynasty to the throne of Iberia.